A striking cardinal visits our back yard frequently, but he's tough to photograph -- the species is known for its speed on the wing, and they perch only for seconds before zooming off who knows where. Yesterday I finally nailed him.
Robyn, maybe you can show me how to get close to those birds without spooking them. My 135-400mm zoom lens is great, but in order to fill the whole frame I need to get 20 feet closer to my targets. Maybe I should buy one of those camouflaged "gillie suits" Marine snipers wear in the movies. Naw . . . that would look terribly out of place in the Chicago suburbs and the birds wouldn't be fooled.
Today's target is a blue jay, a clumsy bully that likes to scatter other birds in a panic. Jays are even more elusive than cardinals.
What do cardinals feed on? If you could find out, then offer a substitute you might get somewhere.
I have set up a feeder on my property, which is just a half round basket attached to my fence (to make it look natural) under a tree so they can fly to the branches to feel safe. I've filled it up with soil and pebbles almost to the top, then placed plastsic containers inside it which can't be seen.
I fill these up with cooked rice when I have some left over, bananas, and sugared water. I also have seed balls of fat hanging from the trees. Underneath the half round on the deck seat, i have a plastic container full of wheat (chicken feed).
the wheat attracts teh doves. The native birds get curious of the dovess so come down to check it out, find the sugared water and rice and banana or apple, and stick around.
they see me coming and know I'm feeding them so they don't fly away now.
I set up a chair about 6 feet away sort of behind another tree so I'm semi camouflaged. I'm sure you are capable of popping something similar up :) You could even build a wooden platform to cater for this.
Fantastic fantastic. You lucky sod - I lvoe those birds. I hope they'll allow me to photograph them while I'm upover :)
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Robyn
Robyn, maybe you can show me how to get close to those birds without spooking them. My 135-400mm zoom lens is great, but in order to fill the whole frame I need to get 20 feet closer to my targets. Maybe I should buy one of those camouflaged "gillie suits" Marine snipers wear in the movies. Naw . . . that would look terribly out of place in the Chicago suburbs and the birds wouldn't be fooled.
ReplyDeleteToday's target is a blue jay, a clumsy bully that likes to scatter other birds in a panic. Jays are even more elusive than cardinals.
What do cardinals feed on? If you could find out, then offer a substitute you might get somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI have set up a feeder on my property, which is just a half round basket attached to my fence (to make it look natural) under a tree so they can fly to the branches to feel safe. I've filled it up with soil and pebbles almost to the top, then placed plastsic containers inside it which can't be seen.
I fill these up with cooked rice when I have some left over, bananas, and sugared water. I also have seed balls of fat hanging from the trees. Underneath the half round on the deck seat, i have a plastic container full of wheat (chicken feed).
the wheat attracts teh doves. The native birds get curious of the dovess so come down to check it out, find the sugared water and rice and banana or apple, and stick around.
they see me coming and know I'm feeding them so they don't fly away now.
I set up a chair about 6 feet away sort of behind another tree so I'm semi camouflaged. I'm sure you are capable of popping something similar up :) You could even build a wooden platform to cater for this.
Cheers
Robyn
Henry, you are a gifted photographer. I really enjoy coming here and seeing what you've digitally captured.
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